Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801
The despatch of Ganteaume's squadron was a direct effort to restore balance to the situation in the Mediterranean by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and on the first cruise it reached Toulon on 19 February 1801, providing vital reinforcements to the remnants of the fleet there.
The third expedition actually reached the Eastern Mediterranean and a fruitless attempt was made to land troops at Benghazi, before British ships from the blockade of Egypt successfully drove Ganteaume's forces away.
In May 1798, a large French fleet of warships and transports crossed the Mediterranean Sea with an army of more than 35,000 men under General Napoleon Bonaparte, intent on an invasion of Egypt, then nominally held by the neutral Ottoman Empire.
Successfully avoiding Nelson's forces, the fleet reached Alexandria on 29 June and immediately invaded, rapidly advancing inland and defeating the Mamluk rulers of Egypt at the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July.
[4] Defeated at Acre and driven back to Egypt, Bonaparte decided to return to France in November 1799 in order to take charge of the deteriorating situation in the War of the Second Coalition.
He could only evacuate a small number of advisors with him on the frigates Muiron and Carrère, but promised the army remaining in Egypt under General Jean Baptiste Kléber that he would send support and reinforcements from Europe.
British forces had withdrawn from the region in 1796 after France and Spain became allies in the Treaty of San Ildefonso, but Nelson's victory at the Nile had eliminated the French threat, allowing a large scale redeployment in the second half of the year.
Malta was besieged, the Ionian Islands were captured by a joint Turkish and Russian force and successive efforts to reach the trapped garrison of Egypt were defeated at sea.
[8] Rumours were spread that the expedition was destined for the Caribbean to oppose the Haitian Revolution, and demonstrations were arranged at every French Atlantic and Channel port, intended to confuse the British blockade squadrons as to which ships were actually sailing and which were only giving the impression of doing so.
[7] On 23 January a heavy storm struck the Brittany coast, fierce northerly winds driving the British out to sea and leaving the entrance to Brest clear for Ganteaume's escape.
As he approached, Captain Louis-Auguste Dordelin demanded that Barton surrender but was met with musket fire and both ships commenced a close range engagement with their main broadsides.
[12] On 30 January, shortly before the separated squadron was reunited off Cape Spartel, Ganteaume's ships also encountered a British vessel, chasing down the small fireship HMS Incendiary under Commander Richard Dalling Dunn.
In the evening, Ganteaume called his ships to a halt off Cape de Gata in the Alboran Sea and Peard unwittingly passed them in the night, so that by the morning of 11 February the French were in a position to pursue his frigate.
[14] For three days Peard sailed north and east, on several occasions believing that he had lost the French only for Ganteaume's ships to reappear over the horizon once more as light winds hampered his escape.
At dawn on 13 February, Peard realised that he would eventually be caught and defeated, and swung Success back towards the west, hoping that by doing so he would lead the French straight into any British forces that might now be searching for Ganteaume.
[13] When interrogated, Peard informed Ganteaume that the invasion of Egypt was already underway, that the Eastern Mediterranean was controlled by a powerful fleet under Lord Keith and that a squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren was actively hunting the French and could appear at any moment.
[17] Despite the lack of genuine pursuit, Ganteaume was unnerved by the information gleaned from Peard, and ordered the squadron to sail for Toulon, arriving on 19 February without any further contact with the Royal Navy.
The British blockade force sighted the disparate squadron on the following morning and although the French escaped pursuit, HMS Minerve succeeded in capturing one of the isolated merchant vessels.
Before sailing to Egypt Ganteaume first cruised off Elba in the Ligurian Sea, achieving regional superiority long enough that a force was able to cross to the island from Piombino, rapidly subduing all but the fortress of Porto Ferrajo, which was besieged.
Ganteaume therefore divided his force, taking four ships with healthy crews south,[22] while Formidable, Indomptable and Desaix, and the frigate Créole were all too undermanned to perform efficiently, and were sent back to Toulon.
On 5 June off Brindisi, the squadron sighted and chased the British frigate HMS Pique under Captain James Young, which was able to effect an escape to Alexandria and warn Keith of Ganteaume's approach.
